Punisher: War Zone #3Review

The third issue of Punisher: War Zone plays on nearly the same exact note as last issue, wherein the Punisher tricks a member of the Avengers – in this case Thor – to do the dirty work of taking down a group of bad guys for him. This makes the first half of War Zone #3 feel like déjà vu and maybe a bit off-putting, even if you’re inherently interested in the inevitable Thor/Punisher confrontation.

It isn’t until the midway point of this issue that things get interesting, as Thor and Frank Castle share an introspective conversation about the Punisher and his relationship to the world at large over a few brewskis. I think many readers will be surprised by the direction of this conversation and how it will eventually pull important story threads together down the line, such as Frank’s relationship to Rachel Cole-Alves.

While Punisher: War Zone #3, from a writing and story perspective, is a step up from last issue, the art by Carmine Di Giandomenico unfortunately can’t keep lock-step. The issue’s big action sequence isn’t as dynamic as it probably could have been, and characters like Thor suffer from some stilted faces every time there’s a close-up. Di Giandomenico is a fantastic artist (look no further than Magneto: Testament), but his talents aren’t best utilized with a story such as this.

Punisher: War Zone has not yet met the quality of Greg Rucka’s proper Punisher run, but at least this issue is a step in the right direction. It’s a little odd Rucka plays off basically the same note as last issue to get his point across, but it’s written well enough that in the end I didn’t mind. Things should get much more interesting from here on out.

Erik is a writer for IGN's Comics channel and co-host of the IGN Assemble! podcast. You can follow Erik on Twitter, or find him here at IGN. Fair warning: prepare for suspect shenanigans.